Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust support patients via a range of healthcare services across the Blackpool and East Lancashire area. Together, the two trusts have circa 16,101 staff members.

There was a high level of buy in for the People Pulse from Joint Chief Executive, Kevin McGee, and HR Director, Kevin Moynes who are committed to using data to deliver focused improvements across themes such as compassionate leadership. The People Pulse has given colleagues an effective channel for their voice to be heard and has allowed the trusts to listen carefully to staff voice and turn listening into action to improve overall experience which in turn is correlated with lower absenteeism and staff turnover levels as well as improved standard of patient care.

Through the results, the trusts have been able to listen and respond to colleague feedback in the following ways:

• Support for managers: High-level organisational results are shared with managers to enable them to consider how their team may be feeling in that moment. This allows them to incorporate this feedback into their daily management practice.
• Insight into key areas on a regular basis: The People Pulse incorporates eight core questions but also includes flexible, time-relevant questions which change on a monthly basis. The trusts have found the feedback received helpful to the context they’re working in at that moment and they can respond appropriately to topics such as health and wellbeing, childcare provision, and freedom to speak up.
• Prompt response to feedback: Due to the monthly aspect of the survey, the trusts are able to respond promptly to feedback. For example, when the People Pulse results indicated that colleagues were not aware of the local health and wellbeing offers, the trusts responded by including more signposting to the support available in their internal communication channels.
• Comparison to national feedback: With the People Pulse dashboard, there is an ability to compare local organisation results with the NHS national average. This has enabled the trusts to also take into account what is going on nationally, and compare this to their own employee experience.

For more information on how Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust have used the People Pulse, contact Susie Srivastava, Organisational Development and Engagement Manager susanna.srivastava@nhs.net.

If you are interested in taking part in the People Pulse, contact the Staff Experience and Engagement team nhsi.peoplepulse@nhs.net.